Hesjedal rides back into Top 10

Canadian Ryder Hesjedal is back onto the first page of the Tour de France results sheet after another solid day of climbing. With just today’s massive climbing stage to go before Wednesday’s rest day, Hesjedal’s Garmin-Transitions team hopes to keep their team leader in that position.

“It was another very solid performance by Ryder” Team Garmin-Transitions director sportif Matt White said after Monday’s hilly Stage 15, where Hesjedal finished 16^th. “He’s certainly going in the right direction. Now the goal is to keep him inside the top 10.  We also had a very gutsy ride by Johan Van Summeren – all in all a great day for a team that’s come through a lot here.”

Hesjedal said he’s glad to move back up the standings. He sat as high as third in this year’s tour before slipping to 13^th.

“It’s hard to say how happy I am to be in the top 10 in the Tour de France. It wasn’t a position I expected to be in, but we’ve fought hard every day as a team. Guys are still recovering from injury and giving me 100 per cent support,” he said. “It’s a great feeling and it’s important to me to continue to make them proud. That’s my mission here, so we’ll see what tomorrow holds.”

Team Garmin-Transitions also announced that it has more “Ryder Weight of a Nation” T-shirts on order. The popular shirts sold out of their first run, but more are going to be available on the team’s website at www.shopslipstreamsports.com.